SBS raises stakes by pitting A-League blockbuster against Big Bash League final on Channel Ten

SBS will enter a ratings race with Channel Ten and the Big Bash League grand final on Friday night by broadcasting the A-League blockbuster between Western Sydney Wanderers and Brisbane Roar across all three channels as well as radio and online platforms.

The round 18 fixture between the title challengers will be simulcast live on SBS, SBS2 and SBS HD, streamed online and have live commentary on SBS radio next Friday in a clash with the T20 decider on Channel Ten.

Heavyweight clash: The high-flying Roar and Wanderers are among the A-League's top drawcards. Photo: Getty Images

A-League TV ratings across SBS and Fox Sports have dropped coinciding with the Ashes, Big Bash League and the Australian Open, and the free-to-air network is responding by showing the match on all SBS stations rather than the usual SBS2.

The head of SBS Sport, Ken Shipp, said the network identified the schedule clash of the fixture with the Big Bash League final but said their main motivation was using the high-profile game as a promotion of the league being broadcast on free-to-air TV.

It's just cricket: The T20 Big Bash final will compete with the top of the table clash in the A-League. Photo: Getty Images

''It is up against the Big Bash final so I certainly expect it to be more than [the station's average A-League ratings of] 150,000,'' Shipp said. ''That's the nature of the business, every night of the week there's something on a channel that is going to impact on what you're doing on your own channel. I'm not concerned about it, we identified the fact it was on the night. It doesn't matter for us, we're doing it for the fans of the game, and it's a good thing to do for the game.''

A-League ratings across both broadcast partners, SBS and Fox Sports, have dropped significantly since the start of December with the round 17 clash between Melbourne Heart and Newcastle Jets on January 17 drawing a combined audience of 116,000 compared with 362,000 for the opening game on October 11.

But Shipp said the average ratings for the A-League remained on track to hit their initial targets, and SBS had no plans to move games from SBS2 to the more familiar channel.

''We don't actually have any concerns with the revenue or ratings for the A-League so far,'' Shipp said. ''We're on target for it to do what we expected it to do by the end of the year. Certainly there are no concerns with that whatsoever. We have no plans to shift it from SBS2.''